Roadway traffic guide



Jlily 28, 1931. L.. MAKINGl ROADWAY TRAFFIC Gui Filed Dec. S, 192s v oc arf.

Hfs .error/vtr vPatented `luly 28, 1931 PATENT oF-rlfca LocHIEL.-M.KING, or ALAMEDA, carin-.enum

'ROADWY` TRAFFIG GUIDE Application illedkllleoember4 8, 1928. SerialY 116.',3245664.

the: trallic: is {limi-ted that. off the." slowesty invention relates; to-fthe.: controllori guidance` of traffic; onV roadways, and. particularly on roadways-having a grade of such proportions as toA affect. the speed. of;

5, trallic thereon, and-` its` broad: purpose is; to-

expedite such tralic..

An object of my invention isV to'A providea1 means of increasing the trailic capacity of a roadway greatly with but: slight increaseimincost, I n

One of the principal dangers in vehicular subway operation isA from tralic jams, resulting in. complete blockageI or in partial blockage with a large number of motor vel-zhicles movingv gradually forward with err-- gnes.- running at slow' speed and poor eflieiency, and hence smoking or filmingv badly."

Such jams arise in at large measure on the adverse grade at the exit; Another object 2S; of my inventionV is. to` prevent jams sce arising.

My invention possesses other ob]ect s4 and valuable features, some of which` willbe set forth in the following` description of- 25;' my invention which is illustrated inl thel drawings forming part ofthe-specification.. It" iste be understood that I doy not limit myselfv to thev showing madev bythe said description and drawings, as: I mayad'opt* 30;. varying forms of' my inventionscope of the claims- ReferringV tol the drawings tv within' the Figure 1 is a horizontal and Figure 2' a] vertical sectional viewv o fa subway embody-- 357i` ing the roadway trallic guide-of' my invention. The planes offsection ofv thegtwofiguresA are indicated byythe lines; 1-1v in Fig.`

2, and-2 2 infFi'g. 1, respectively; i The speed of movement, oftrafli'ek in con- 40" gested roadways vis dependent'-upon that of-y the slowest vehicles.-V The carryingf capacity of a roadway dependsdirectly uponxthe speed of thetrafiic and'y upon the number: of

lines of'trailic'in the-roadway. Thusgit'folf- V475? lows where two'traflic-lanesi-are-provided in.

one direction, one for -fa'stf and' the other-fior slow. tralic,.l thatthe. carrying capacity ofE theroadwayisnot merely doubled, as com- -pared with a single lane road, but may be W2 yincreased many fold. Since the speed of all T'ralc jams frequently occur at such points..` p and, especiallyvin subways, thesev jamsf are.;

sources: of'. actual danger, since theV large.V number of cars, moving. slowly with.. throt'e ltled motors', intensifyv thev ventilation prob;

A: careful. studyf ofi the problem. thus: pre-v sented; showsv that .most vehicularv -subway. j amsi have their origin on. the adverse grade at: the exit; 0n a: favorable grade the disparity: in speed betweendi'fferent classes of vehicles is slight.. 1Furthermore,.even minor accidents, such: as. fuel failure or ignitionr trouble,lwill not cause a tie-up,fas thev afi fected car canv coast to' the bottom ofthe speedof thelightervehicles is but little re-y duced, while that. 'of' a. heavily ladenztruck'r grade. On the adverse grade, however,.the,

isvmuchfafectegd.: Moreover, a temporarilyY Y disabled canbecomes an absolute bar to` traf! lic.` Similar conditions may arise on any adserious consequences. y n Broadly considered, my invention comprlses, in aV roadway'on a grade, meansfor definingv paths Vfor tia'li'cv in each direction,

the pathin the direction of adverse grade being; wider` thanv the path inthe direction o fffavorable. grade. Thewide path.is..p.ref n,

erably marked` to. define: lanes for fast. and.. slow. traflic. By means of. this invention, the., capacity of. the 'roadwayy can b.e.more than doubled.. at; a; relatively slight. increase nzcostg' f A verse'grade, although not usuallyl with such umy invention to a road passing thru a subway, which is indicated by the reference character 6. The roadway, as is usual in such cases, has inclined portions 7 adjacent the ends of the subway, with a substantially level portion 8 between them.

In the present instance, the roadway is wide enough for three lines of traflic. A curb ll divides the roadway on the grades into paths for traflic in the two directions, the curb being placed about one third of the roads width from the right hand side of the road, facing downgrade. In the level portion of the roadway is placed a curb 12 which extends diagonally across the central longitudinal portion of the road on a line joining the ends of the curbs ll. Gaps 13 are preferably provided in the curb 12 to permit emergency passage from one path to the other. It is also advisable to define the lanes for fast `and slow traffic by painted stripes 11i, or other suitable markers.

Cars approaching the subway follow the single width path on the right. wWhen the foot of the grade is reached the slower vehicles keep to the right of the road, while the lighter ones turn out as soon as the path widens suiliciently to permit, and take the left of the two lanes on the adverse grade at the exit. A car temporarily disabled on the level portion of the roadway may be easily pushed through one of the emergency gaps 13, to remain astride the curb in the center of the roadway and out of the way of ftraiic in either direction until aid can be secured. The gaps also may be used to allow ire apparatus or tow cars to turn within the subway. If a car be disabled on the adverse grade the other trailic can pass around it through the unblocked traffic lane. No curbs or other actual bars to traflic should be used between the lanes in a path, as this would seriously limit the usefulness of the double width path.

It will be seen that by the use of this invention a three-lane roadway on a grade has practically the same carrying capacity as av four-lane roadway, and more than double the capacity of a two-lane roadway. A. roadway wide enough for three lines of traffic but without the guide would allow passing in either direction on the grade and would so produce a hazard too great to be permisiblc. The lpresence of this hazard would also tend to prevent use of the extra width to an economic extent.

It is obvious that the usefulness' of this invention is not restricted to subways or to roadways of the width here described. The capacity of any roadway on a grade may be increased by providing lanes in the direction of adverse grade in excess of those in the direction of favorable grade, even when there are a plurality of the latter. Furthermore, altho the dividing curbs are preferred, they may be replaced by any type of trailic marker on the grades, and may even be entirely omitted in the level portion of the roadway without destroying the usefulness of my invention.

I claim:

l. In a roadway for traine moving in opposite V directions and having a favorable grade followed by an adverse grade in each direction, means for dening paths for trahie in each direction and providing lanes in the portions ofsaid paths having adverse grades in excess of the lanes in the portions having favorable graders.

2. In a roadway for traffic moving in opposite directions and having an adverse grade, a favorable grade, and a substantially level portion joining said grades, means for defining paths for traiiic in each direction on said roadway, said paths being wider in the portions of adverse grade than in the portions of favorable grade and widening gradually from the latter to the forn'ier in the substantially level portion.

8. Inaroadway for trail-ic moving in opposite directions and having an adverse grade, a favorable grade, and a substantially level portion joining said grades, a curb dividing said roadway into paths for traffic in each direction, said paths being wider in the portions of adverse grade than in the portions of favorable grade, and said curb extending diagonally across the roadway to provide paths of graduated width in the substantially level portion.

4;. In a roadway adapted to carry substantially equal traffic in two directions and having an adverse grade and a favorable grade in each direction and a depressed level portion joining said grades, means for defining paths for traffic in each direction, each of said paths being wider in the portion of adverse grade than in the portion of favorable grade to provide room `for an even number of traffic lanes on the adverse grade and an odd number of trame lanes on the favorable grade,

5. In a roadway adapted to carry substantially equal traffic in two directions and having an adverse grade and a favorable grade in each direction and a depressed level portion joining said grades, means for defining paths for traflic in each direction, each of said paths being wider in the portion of adverse grade than in the portion of favorable grade to provide room for a pair of traffic lanes on the adverse grade and a single traffic lane on the favorable grade.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

LOCHIEL M. KING- 

